Asteres Inc. Completes Series A Financing

September 23, 2003 12:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time

DEL MAR, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 2003--Asteres Inc., the industry's first developer of automated prescription storage and self-checkout machines for the retail pharmacy market, announced today the completion of its Series A financing led by Sanderling Ventures. The round was over-subscribed. General Partner, Tim Wollaeger joined the board of directors along with Pyxis Founder Ron Taylor. Wollaeger was the first major investor in Pyxis and served on the board along side Taylor, chairman and CEO, through the sale to Cardinal Health for almost $1 billion.

"Ron and Tim put healthcare automation on the map and their involvement is a major asset to the company," said Linda Pinney, founder and chief executive officer of Asteres, who served 10 years as the vice president of Business Development at Pyxis. "Asteres is making a significant leap in Point Of Use (POU) technology and its market applications," said Taylor. "We are assembling a dynamic team of industry veterans who have successfully built businesses centered around systems automation."

The proceeds will enable Asteres to finish developing ScriptCenter(TM) alpha units for installation into retail pharmacies early next year. ScriptCenter offers customers an alternative way to pick up and pay for their prescriptions without standing in line at the counter. Functioning as an automated will call system, once the pharmacy has filled the customer's prescriptions, they are loaded into the ScriptCenter. The customer is then electronically notified that their prescriptions are ready. "As the number of prescriptions continues to increase so does the time waiting in line to pick them up," said Pinney. "From airline ticketing to supermarket checkout, consumers want the option to do it themselves."

Asteres Inc., with headquarters in Del Mar, Calif., is the industry's first developer of automated prescription storage and self-checkout machines for retail pharmacy.

Asteres(TM) and ScriptCenter(TM) are trademarks of Asteres Inc.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.